6. Leo
6
LEO
“T hanks for helping me out, Leo,” Donna says, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. “This website business is getting ridiculous. As far as I know, all our guests have arrived today. Why do things always go wrong around the holidays when we’re short on staff? And then the bathroom faucet issue in room twenty-five. Sully saved the day on that one.” She picks up a stray pen from the floor and drops it into the penholder on the counter.
“You know the Forrest boys. We get things done!” I flex my biceps like Superman.
“Your mom was looking for you,” Donna says, unfazed by my antics. “She said you should go see her in her office when you’re done flexing or whatever it is you’re doing.” Her mouth twitches with mirth.
I drop my arms and pat down my shirt. For some reason, I don’t want to know what she wants. “Yeah… She’s sent me a couple of messages.” I look at my watch, then toward Mom’s office in the back.
Donna moves away, then quickly turns back. “Oh! Ms. Hansen’s room is ready. Is she still in the café? I can go get her.” She glances at the clock on the opposite wall. “Oh dear, she’s been waiting a long time.”
“Nope, I’ll take care of it. The conversation with Mom will be quick.” I know I’m being a selfish asshole and unprofessional. I should give Olive her key immediately instead of making her wait any longer. At this rate, we’ll be lucky if she doesn’t leave a scathing one-star review about the delay in getting her room. However, I have another idea in mind. Hmm . I decide to take my chances and make her wait.
“Hey, Donna, can you please do me a quick favor?” I search the area to make sure no one’s around. “It’s a secret.”
Her face lights up. She loves secrets, and she’s good at keeping them. “Sure. What do you need?” She lowers her voice like we’re undercover.
I whisper in her ear what I’d like her to do. “I’ll pay for it. And wait…one more thing.” I grab a sheet of stationery and write a quick note. Donna clears her throat and taps her fingers on the counter. I fold the paper and slip it into a red envelope, then give it to her. “Can you please have someone put the bottle in her room with this envelope?”
Donna takes it from me and taps her hand with it. “Don’t worry. I’m on the case. She’s going to love it. Unless she doesn’t drink.” Shit, I didn’t think about that. Donna squeezes my left cheek. “You’re the sweetest. There’s hope for you yet.”
“Thanks… I guess.” I’m not sure what she means by that. “Anyway, you know where I am if you need anything.” I wouldn’t mind if she interrupted my conversation with Mom.
She rolls her eyes. “I know how to do my job, young man. To quote you from before, ‘get goin’.”
I salute, then spin on my heel and head for Mom’s office. I catch her staring at the laptop on her desk, her red glasses perched on the tip of her nose. She looks up and flashes me a perfect, welcoming smile—the same one everyone says I inherited. She removes her glasses and places them on the desk.
“Hiya, Ma.”
“Hi, honey. Come in and shut the door, please.”
Oh, man. Interrogation time. What did I do now that the door needs to be closed? When Mom’s mad, she’s super calm. All the anger is in her voice. Her body language and facial features stay cool as a cucumber. It’s scary as fuck. But I’m not seeing any of that right now. So far, it doesn’t seem like I’m in trouble.
“Sure, but I don’t have a lot of time.” Olive’s waiting! The woman who’s probably glad I left after the constant chaos that followed in my wake, not to mention my almost breaking her nose.
I close the door, then take the chair opposite my mother’s desk, propping my ankle on my knee. “So, what’s up?”
Mom rests her forearms on the desk and clasps her hands. “I saw you charged a guest the double-room price for a suite. Did the system screw up again, was it a mistake, or was she cute?” She cocks an eyebrow, and the corner of her mouth ticks up with amusement.
Olive’s beautiful, not cute.
“It’s the system.” I explain what happened with Olive’s reservation. “Who knows how many more times it’s going to screw up?”
She leans back in her seat, crosses her arms, and rocks gently. “Let me see what I can do. I swear I hate technology. It was much easier when I was younger.”
“We’ll figure it out. Anything else?”
“There is.” She gives me a firm look, and I shift in my seat. “I know it’s been a busy day, and it’s not the best time to bring this up. But—” Here it comes. “Your aunt Betty called me this afternoon.” Yep, just what I thought. “Betty’s been trying to get hold of you. Why haven’t you returned her calls?”
“Been busy. I’ll call her back when it’s slower.” Liar. I smooth my mustache. Hey, this caterpillar is a good stress reliever. Maybe I’ll wait to shave it off.
Mom eyes me, knowing I’m full of shit. “You know what’s coming up. It’s been five years. Betty and Mason want to have a little family gathering in memory of Corey in March. Possibly go to the cemetery first, then have lunch here. Tonya’s going to plan it. She and Tonya want to discuss your travel plans to narrow down a date.”
I look away and focus on a leaf in the potted plant on Mom’s desk.
“Honey,” she continues. “I know it’ll be hard for you, but you have to attend. If not for yourself, then for Corey and his parents.”
I glare at her. “We’ve been over this a million times. You have no clue how hard it is for me, even after five years. It still feels like yesterday. And why would she want to have a party to celebrate his death?” My voice sounds colder than I intended. “No, thanks. I’ll pass.”
“Okay, that’s enough. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up right now.” She stands and comes around the desk, then rests on the edge near me. “You need to let it go, Leo. Traveling around the world hasn’t changed a thing. Everyone grieves in their own way, but I don’t think you’ve stopped long enough to do so.”
Pulling on the hairband around my wrist, I say, “Why did you bring it up then?”
“A new year is upon us, and I’m hoping it’ll be a year of change for you. You don’t have to keep running. Herbert retires in March. The manager position will be open April first.”
“I’m not running.” I know she’s right, but I say this anyway. “I’m living the life that we wanted to have. To keep traveling.”
She sighs. “And you always do it alone. Don’t you get lonely? Aren’t you tired of being on the go all the time? When you’re here with us, you seem happy. Is it not enough to keep you here for the long run?”
Mom’s talking to me like we’ve never had this conversation before, but the topic comes up often. Yeah, I’m tired. I feel stuck, waiting for something to push me in a new direction or show me there’s more to life than writing hotel reviews.
Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. And I’m a cheerful person by nature, but my chest feels hollow. It has since the day my cousin got sick. Then one day, he closed his eyes and…never opened them again. There was no chance to say goodbye. He was my best friend. How am I supposed to get over that?
I lean over and rest my head in my hands. “What do you want me to say that I haven’t already said the hundred other times we’ve talked about this, Ma?”
“I wish I knew.” She pushes away from the desk and comes over to pat my shoulder. “Why don’t you take off? Or go back to the café to tell that woman her room is ready. We don’t want complaints from our guests, do we?”
My head shoots up. How does she know about that? Donna? Louis?
She smirks. “Word travels.”
“As always. I was being nice.” If that were true, why did I ask Donna to put something in her room for her birthday? To extend my niceness?
“Whatever you say, honey. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you take someone to the café. She’s here alone, and you have time on your hands. Why not show her around while she’s here?”
“Forget it, Ma. Whatever you have concocted in your head, it won’t happen.” Since when do I lie like this?
She throws up her hands and shrugs. “A mother can only hope.”
I stand to leave, and Mom surprises me with a bear hug. “Leo…honey. Make this the best year you’ve ever had. Let that spark of life ignite again. You don’t need Corey to do that. It’s always been inside you. It’s just dormant right now.” She lays her hand on my heart. “You’re a good man already. Think of where that power could take you if you let it out again.”
“Impressive. That was pretty poetic. You should write that down or make a T-shirt.”
She shakes her head and sighs. “There’s no getting through to you.”
I poke her side. “I’m playing with you, Ma. I heard every word, and I’ll think about it. And I’ll call Aunt Betty in a couple of days.”
“Good. Oh!” she yells, making me flinch. “And stop pestering your brother.”
“What?” She’s going to give me a severe case of whiplash.
“Don’t deny it. I already gave your sister a mouthful. I shouldn’t have to say this when you’re all adults. Sully’s having a rough time, and you two don’t seem to understand that. Nothing sucks more than getting your heart trampled on. It’s like watching my life on repeat when I look at him.”
Recently, Sully caught his best friend and business partner screwing his fiancée in his own office at work. When Mom was twenty years old, her best friend stole the man she thought she was going to marry. That was almost forty years ago. She met my dad a couple of years later. Now she says she regrets losing her best friend, but she’ll be forever grateful to her because if she hadn’t taken him away, Mom would’ve married the wrong man.
But Sully’s still dealing with the pain of betrayal and rejection.
“We thought it was funny. I’ll apologize when I see him. Are you coming to the party tonight? The bartender can make you one of those fruity drinks you like.” I drape my arm over her shoulders and squeeze, knowing she’ll say no.
She sighs. “I think I’ll head home and celebrate alone.”
“Shocker.” I squeeze her again.
“You know I have the best view of the fireworks. And you know how I love my pjs.” She shimmies her hips.
I head for the door, then turn around again at the last second. “If you change your mind, we’d love to see you. This could be your year too.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t that be a hoot?” She stuffs her hands in her pockets, not looking convinced. “Now get out of here. Take that woman the key for her room. And enjoy the party tonight.”
My dad died when I was eighteen. He lived with severe diabetes most of his life. He had a kidney transplant and due to complications, he died shortly after.
Mom grieved, but kept on swimming. We’re kind of alike in that way. We let out all of our pent-up emotions once or twice to get it out of our systems, and then we move on, grieving in silence for no one else to see. We have to, because life goes on. But our systems, mainly our hearts, are changed forever.
Enough of this depressing shit.
Go get your damn coffee and the girl!